Russia became the leader in the number of applications, the UK the leader among European countries, USA – third.
Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Kaspersky, launched tourism startup accelerator on May 6, which aims to help young entrepreneurs from tourism industry that are now deprived because of the coronavirus pandemic both of any support from the larger actors and even an opportunity to promote themselves to launch new projects.
More than 500 applications have been sent from 47 countries since the launch of the ‘Kaspersky Exploring Russia’. 74% of them were from Russia, homeland of Eugene Kaspersky. The UK is the leader amongst European countries in the number of participating startups. Also The United States, Malaysia, Poland and Italy are also in the world’s top five.
The accelerator managed to unite all parts of the world (except Antarctica). And the jury considered applications from the most unexpected corners of the world: from Colombia to Australia. There were also applications from Luxembourg, San Marino and Saudi Arabia.
The most popular category is Travel Tech, technological projects (startups). Then there are Social Tech, business projects that are socially significant in the fields of travel and tourism, and Infrastructure Track, projects that make extreme and leisure tourism more accessible, and that also popularize and create infrastructure for it. The Sustainability category is also getting popular. It includes business projects that have a positive impact on sustainable development.
The accelerator has the aim of gathering the most interesting and promising tourism projects from different countries and then to help their creators implement their ideas further and overcome the crisis. Being tourism-related – and smart! – was basically all that a project needed to be in order to be enrolled in the Kaspersky Exploring Russia program. Participants didn’t even need to have a fully operating business, and their projects might have existed merely as ideas in their creators’ minds. There were also no geographical or national restrictions: participants might have been from any country.
Applications were accepted until May 29. Further, the jury – consisting of Eugene himself, Kaspersky representatives, and leading experts in tourism – will select a shortlist of 10 the most promising projects. Finalists will get a chance to gain more knowledge on a series of online workshops and lectures. Leading experts in the industry will share their experiences and explain how to create a successful business. The finalists will learn everything from how to calculate a financial plan to how to apply a marketing strategy.
The jury will name three winners on June 25. The gold medalist will be awarded an online education grant directly relevant to their project. Those coming second will be awarded PR and marketing support for their projects. The participants taking third place will be awarded software subscriptions tailored to solve their business needs.
Eugene Kaspersky hopes this initiative will help talented entrepreneurs from all over the world acquire new knowledge and skills. He wishes it will help them find investors for their projects become a reality, and thus will boost the tourism industry. In addition to that, he hopes Russia will reveal itself in a new light – for both domestic and international travelers.
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